Want a Piece of the Millennial Generation?

The millennial generation is one coveted by any company selling a product or service but has also proved to be the hardest to capture for marketers. This group of consumers, aged 15-30, are the first generation of “digital natives.” They grew up in the “no rules” households watching reality TV and reinventing cultural rituals such.

I’m still not sure whether I am happy or not to be a part of this generation. We aren’t exactly revered by other generations, just check out this piece by “60 Minutes”.

Regardless if you like us or not, we are 80 million strong, have deep spending pockets and college educations. This means marketers and businesses can’t afford to ignore us but also can not underestimate us.

At a recent advertising conference, head of MTV research, Nick Shore, shared some findings from his ongoing study titled “The Millennial Edge.” He offered five tips which I paraphrased below. You can find the full descriptions here.

1. Smart and funny is the new rock ‘n’ roll

Humor is the necessary component to popularity in the digital age.

2. Running the bases backwards

Example: Hookups come before first dates now.

3. Reinvention tension

High volume of media means added pressure to reinvent oneself constantly and quickly. What Madonna did in 10 years, Lady Gaga did in 10 minutes.

4. The invisible fence

No one ever drew that invisible “line” for millennials that, when crossed, consequences ensue. So, while the obsession with pushing the edge remains, the actual edge is missing.

5. Radically real

The line has been blurred between reality, hyper-reality and scripted content thanks to reality programming. Therefore, millennials are craving authenticity.